


lay me gently in the cold dark earth

by vounoura



Series: knife wife and staff loser [13]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Romance, me finding literally every excuse to make my oc/canon pairs cuddle in as many fics as possible: what
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 07:10:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21406231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vounoura/pseuds/vounoura
Summary: Naryu has a bit of a crisis. Nirasa mostly just wants to sleep.
Relationships: Female Dunmer Vestige/Naryu Virian, Female Vestige/Naryu Virian, Vestige/Naryu Virian
Series: knife wife and staff loser [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/851916
Kudos: 29





	lay me gently in the cold dark earth

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back gamers

Northern West Gash is surprisingly nice this time of year, Naryu finds - not that she has much reason to come up here most of the time, truthfully, outside of a certain conspicuous mage.

(Gnisis is an isolated, insular town, and it doesn’t take an assassin’s ear to hear all the whispering that happens whenever she turns up.

“Always been kind of an ‘out-there’ child, at least to the neighbours.” Nirasa shrugs. “Just ignore it. Elynea and Shulki are harmless.”

Still though, small-towners are a talkative bunch and - well, it’s hard to ignore the staring sometimes. Nirasa’s lucky she cares enough to ignore it.) 

The spring wind drifts across her face and she watches Nirasa breathe next to her, chewing on a lip. Her eyes are closed and her face is relaxed and peaceful as she lies in the grass and Naryu feels a sort-of pleasant pressure in her chest.

(She’s not sure if she likes it. It sets her nerves on edge, breaths jittery and fingers twitching, and the open feeling of vulnerability leaves her off-balance on her feet.)

A hand moves to rest gently on her thigh, warm through the leather. Naryu starts - nearly reaching for the blade on her belt - but lets it linger. "Drake for your thoughts?" Nirasa asks, and Naryu doesn't reply for a long few moments.  
  
"Aren't you worried that I'll hurt you?" Naryu asks, finally, resting her chin in one hand. Nirasa cracks an eye open incredulously, squinting against the light, delicate features cleaving into a puzzled frown.  
  
"Having second thoughts there, lovely?" The hand on her thigh tightens almost imperceptibly. Naryu rests her own on top of it and strokes the knuckles with her thumb.  
  
"No." She replies, then frowns a moment later. "Not really." Nirasa makes a noise high in her nose. She rolls over fully, then, bracing her head against a palm. 

"Than what's the issue?"  
  
(Naryu's not entirely sure how to answer. The words won't form and - and besides, it's bad enough she's brought it up anyway.)

Nirasa frowns, sighs. "You should stop thinking about whatever's bothering you so much," She says, moving a little closer. "And start thinking about more important things. Like me, for instance, and the fact that you should lie down and hold me right this instant."

(Naryu snorts, rolls her eyes, but feels her back hit the earth with a soft thump anyway. Nirasa instantly crawls up the length of her body, settling her warmth against her with a contented sigh against the line of her throat. Her nose pushes insistently against her and Naryu moves her head to oblige.)  
  
"Is there even room for....this?" Naryu whispers, mostly to herself. A frustrated sound tears its way out of her throat and Nirasa only nuzzles a little bit more forcefully against the side of her neck.  
  
"Depends on if you want there to be." Nirasa replies, simply. "Strange to be wondering if this is what you want when I'm right about to fall asleep on top of you."  
  
(Another sound tears itself out from behind her teeth. This _ is _ what she wants, down to her marrow - she wants the wine and the fire and the blankets and the Vehk-damned domesticity, damn it, she's been thinking it through for years - but.  
  
But she thinks about how utterly out-of-depth she is here, how the only things she knows are knives and death and blood and how the closest thing she has to compare this closeness to is Odral, who is long dead and gone. 

She thinks about small-towners and how different their lives are and wonders if what she wants is what she deserves.)  
  
A hand cards through her hair, scratching lightly at her scalp. Nirasa finds that one spot behind her ear and Naryu can't help the contented groan the escapes her chest.  
  
"Are you worried about deserving me?" Nirasa yawns against her neck. "Because you'd be right. Nobody deserves me. I don't even deserve me."  
  
("S'wit." Naryu murmurs, and feels the flash of teeth against her skin.)  
  
"I suppose..." A sigh. Naryu's never been good with _ words _ or _ feelings _ or _ talking_. She blames Mjahlar for that. "Am I good for you, is all."  
  
"I'll decide what's good for me." Nirasa retorts instantly, clipped steel lingering in her tone. She tilts her head up to drag her mouth gently across the line of her jaw. "And I've decided you are. Just let me worry about the rest, lovely."  
  
(No doubt. No hesitation. Nirasa doesn't think, doesn't second-guess, just dives headfirst in and figures it out on the other side. She burns with the impatience and the drive and the fervour of the fires she starts.  
  
Naryu's envious. Her mind works too fast for her to throw care to the wind, to not make contingency plan after contingency plan after contingency plan. She thinks, and she thinks, and she thinks, and then she thinks some more for good measure, until all the details sit straight in her head and are fitted into nice, neat little boxes.  
  
But how does she sort a woman who refuses to be categorized? Nirasa refuses to sit still in her head, all her details adding up to a sum that doesn't quite make sense. She defies expectations, punches past barriers that have long been standing and leaves them smouldering in her wake.  
  
Naryu doesn't know what to do about it. Doesn't know if she _ can _ do anything about it.  
  
Doesn't know if she wants to.)

“Lovely.” Nirasa sighs. Her breath is warm against her throat. “Lovely, if I cared about whatever it is you get up to when I'm not around do you think I would’ve kissed you back in Vivec?”

(Of course Nirasa would see right to the heart of it, cut right down to it without preamble. Delicacy doesn’t come naturally to her, and besides that she’s always been dangerously more astute than she looks.)

Another kiss against her jaw. “Aren’t we both murderers in the end, anyway?”

(Maybe she’s not a contract killer, but if Nirasa hadn’t learned death in Cyrodiil the rest of her life would’ve taught it to her, Naryu knows that much. She’s cleaned enough blood from the grooves of her armour and listened to enough sobbing in the depths of night to know that.)

“Maybe I’m just being stupid -”

(“You _ are _ stupid.” Nirasa interjects, pleasantly. “Dumber than me, even. And you worry too much.”

Naryu flicks the tip of her ear none too gently.)

“I just - “ Naryu continues, biting slightly at one lip. She teeth catch on the skin there and Nirasa hums against her throat. “I just thought you’d be more torn up about it, is all.”

“I _ did _know what I was getting into,” Nirasa says. “Getting cozy with an assassin, I mean. It’s not like it was a secret.”

(And it wasn’t, Naryu knows, which makes it even more stupid that she’s torn up about this at all.)

One of Nirasa’s legs throws itself across hers. Naryu knows she really should stop this now because if she doesn't Nirasa will fall asleep and get herself all tangled up in a mess of limbs and hair and then Naryu won’t be able to move, but she finds that she really doesn’t want to.

“Naryu, if I wanted someone completely without fault I would be lying here with someone from home.” The leg hooks around her thigh. “Not with a Tong assassin who thinks too much and should stop right now and cuddle me because I’m feeling quite needy, actually.”

(Naryu snorts. Stupid, idiotic touch-starved woman. She knows it shouldn’t be this hard to love someone but - but Vehk’s sake, it’s so hard to just let _ go_.)

Nirasa hums against her throat again, deep in her chest. “It’s too late for you, anyway. You’re stuck with me and all my issues and problems and charmingly good looks.” There is a gentle tug on her hair. “And I with you. We’re stuck, assassin, it’s too late now.”

(It really is, isn’t it? Because as scared as she is to face it and say it for what it is Naryu can’t see the rest of her life without Nirasa in it, not since she charged in all fire and brass back in Narsis. 

What a pain Nirasa is. What an utter, utter pain.)

Naryu feels another sigh loose from her chest, but a grin twitches at the corner of her mouth. She pulls Nirasa closer with one arm and feels the mage relax more than she thought was possible against her, wandering fingers wrapping around whatever they can reach.

“We’ll be alright.” Nirasa murmurs, kissing the beat of her pulse. “We’re not perfect, but we’ll be alright.”

(Naryu thinks, and thinks, and thinks that’s maybe that’s all she needs.)

**Author's Note:**

> listen I know stealing lyrics from Hozier for fic titles is literally what everyone does but listen Work Song is SUCH a Naryu/Nirasa song please,


End file.
